A Term of Endearment: Rev. James Meeks

The day after Barack Obama decisively won the Democratic primary for US Senate he took the time to stop by good friend and spiritual advisor James Meeks’ church to attend Bible study. “I know that he’s a person of prayer,” Meeks says. “The night after the election, he was the hottest thing going from Galesburg to Rockford. He did all the TV shows, and all the morning news, but his last stop at night was for church. He came by to say thank you, and he came by for prayer.”

Now an event like this shouldn’t cause any alarm with anyone. Politicians regularly spend some of their free time recharging their political batteries by immersing them selves in spiritual matters. Obama is surely not alone there. But most politicians don’t hang out with “men of god” who regularly call the mayor of their city a “slave master”, call other pastors and politicians “house niggers” and white people that don’t vote for him “racists.” But then again, you might not know Obama’s other spiritual advisor, supporter and superdelegate: State Senator Reverend James Meeks.

Harsh Words

Per pulpit video from July 5 Rev. James Meeks states, “We don’t have slave masters. We got mayors. But they still the same white people who are presiding over systems where black people are not able, or to be educated.”

“Is it fair to compare Mayor Daley, him and the governor, to slave masters?” CBS 2’s Mike Flannery asked.

“They do the same thing. They preside over systems where they have the control of the lives of African-American and Hispanic people,” Meeks replied.

Who does this sound an awful lot like? That’s right, another Obama “spiritual advisor” Reverend Jeremiah Wright. The racist bigot that blames 9/11 on America, that believes we should be singing God Damn America, that says the USA is just like Al Qaeda and the guy that blames all the ills of the world on white people.

Notice a pattern here?

“You got some preachers that are House Niggers. You got some elected officials that are House Niggers. And rather than them trying to break this up, they gonna fight you to protect this white man,” Meeks said in the sermon tape.

In his interview with Flannery on Friday, Meeks said, “The word nigger is not in the African-American community a bad word.
It’s a term of endearment. And I don’t see it as derogatory or defensive, offensive.”

“That is an insult. You weren’t using that term as a term of endearment,” Flannery said.

“And no one will be offended, except an individual that it applies to,” Meeks said.

So according to Obama’s spiritual advisor the word nigger is a “term of endearment.” Then does that mean that a House Nigger is an especial term of endearment, something a little more elevated than say, a lawn jockey? Because the way I heard him say it, it sure didn’t sound like he was praising anyone. Don’t believe me?

Watch for yourself:

Does he sound like he is paying anyone a compliment here? Is protecting the white man something that Meeks thinks is a good thing? If he is anything like Jeremiah Wright he sure doesn’t. But a close association with Obama shouldn’t be used as the only reason to condemn someone. Let’s allow James Meeks to speak for himself and determine for ourselves whether he is in any way prejudiced or bigoted like Jeremiah Wright.

Meeks for Governor

“Come on with me white churches … Call me and tell me to run for governor,” Meeks said. “White people who believe in Jesus, call me and tell me to run for governor”

Meeks is an Illinois senator in the 15th District. He is counting on an anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage platform to appeal to conservative white Christians.

“If I do run and there are two people in the race who both are not standing for morality, if I don’t have every white Christian vote in the state of Illinois, I will stand on top of the Sears Tower and call every one of ya’ll racist,” Meeks said from his pulpit.

So he is going to call all white people that don’t vote for him racists? How quaint. Where have we heard that before?

And just what is Reverend Meeks’ association with Barack Obama? According to his campaign they barely know one another. And of course we hear the same standard line about Obama denouncing the racist talk of this person he barely knows. Blah blah blah. We’ve all heard the drill before. It would seem that as frequently as one of Obama’s associates turns out to be a bigot and a racist that they would have a more creative explanation by now. Like maybe we are just bamboozled. Yeah, that makes sense. Okie doke!

But once you slice through the typical lie from the Obama campaign you find out that not only are Meeks and Obama friends, they have other friends in common. In fact one of their mutual friends is directly involved in the day to day activities of Obama’s campaign. Guess who? His initials are JJJ. Yes indeed, the person I am referring to is Jesse Jackson Jr., the national Co-Chair for the Obama campaign. It seems JJJ and Meeks have been close friends for a very long time. And JJJ is a member in good standing with Meek’s church. So he apparently agrees with what Meeks says. At least there is no evidence that he believes otherwise. In fact the evidence about JJJ is quite telling. He doesn’t hide his contempt for white people very well.

“The natural reminder here is O.J. [Simpson] — how does an African American candidate attack a white woman?” said Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr.

Yes, he said these words right after Obama won the Democratic caucus in Iowa. An unusual choice of a phrase don’t you think? Especially since his guy won. But just in case we failed to understand what JJJ meant when he uttered those words, he uttered a few more not barely a week later that clarified it for us.

Clinton didn’t cry for Katrina

In an appearance today on MSNBC, Jackson said that Clinton’s “tears” — none actually fell from her eyes — are something that “we’re still analyzing within the Barack Obama campaign.” “Those tears also have to be analyzed,” Jackson said. “They have to be looked at very, very carefully in light of Katrina, in light of other things that Mrs. Clinton did not cry for, particularly as we head to South Carolina where 45 percent of African-Americans will participate in the Democratic contest, and they see real hope in Barack Obama.”

You see, JJJ isn’t shy about playing the race card. And why not, his pastor and good friend James Meeks plays the race card from the pulpit. And that other close associate that Meeks and Obama share in common? Well, you have probably already guessed but it is none other than that jailed indicted political fixer and slumlord Tony Rezko. In fact of all the politicians with ties to Rezko and all the money Rezko donated to politicians, State Senator James Meeks ranks 14th in the list of politicians receiving the most money from this political pariah. 14th out of who knows how many politicians (The Cash Cow). The question to be asked, which I have been unable to find the answer to, is whether or not Meeks gave the money back or donated it to charity? And if it was to charity, was it to his own church where he uses the pulpit to call white people that don’t support him racists?

So it has been clearly determined that James Meeks is a bigot and a racist and has close ties to Barack Obama. But what has yet to be discussed are his other beliefs and activities that are a little out of the mainstream norm. For instance: James Meeks is known to be vehemently anti-gay.

2nd Obama-linked pastor under fire for racist talk

Meeks is also notorious for his strong anti-homosexual platform, which is in contrast to Obama who has been campaigning for the “gay” vote. Meeks has routinely voted against pro-homosexual legislation and has been quoted during sermons referring to same-sex attraction “an evil sickness.”

And how does the Obama campaign distance itself from Meeks on this? It’s very simple. At first they ignore it. Then they pretend as if Obama is the most forceful advocate for LGBT issues in the country. And finally, just to make sure they haven’t offended anyone, they invite a “reformed” gay singer to campaign with them in South Carolina. Of course I am referring to Donnie “I’m cured now” McClurkin.

Obama’s gospel mistake

Adding fuel to this fire was Obama’s reply to questions about the concert. He haughtily told a reporter from the gay news magazine the Advocate, “If there’s somebody out there who’s been more consistent in including LGBT Americans in his or her vision of what America should be, then I would be interested in knowing who that person is.”

In 2004, during his U.S. Senate run, Obama campaigned at Chicago’s Salem Baptist Church, whose leader, Rev. James Meeks, called same-sexuality “an evil sickness.” That was quickly forgotten, overshadowed by Obama’s eloquent speeches on hard-core Democratic issues, gay rights included, to turn-away crowds that treated him, as more than one commentator has noted, “like a rock star.”

Now a gospel star may have driven a wedge between Obama and his gay supporters and roiled others as well. For, by putting McClurkin in the spotlight, Obama has broken black America’s 11th Commandment: “Don’t talk about it in front of the white people!”

But it was McClurkin who dominated the event, claiming before an audience of about 2,000 Sunday in Columbia, S.C.: “I don’t speak against the homosexuals. I tell you that God delivered me from homosexuality. No matter what blog you read, let me tell you, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature!”

Did it work? Was Meeks appeased that Obama had someone campaigning for him that had rejected homosexuality? Again, we may never know because Meeks, like many Obama supporters, has effectively been muted. But if there is any indication as to what type of person Meeks is and how strongly his beliefs are we need only to look toward his church where they have an unusual habit of taking things to the extreme. And what better subjects to promote their twisted view of morality than teenagers who are looking for adult guidance to begin with.

Something I was not aware of until I began writing this was the growing practice among some evangelical churches to celebrate Halloween in their own way, by scaring the hell out of children. Salem (ironically appropriately titled) Baptist Church where Meeks is the head pastor decided to create their own “Nights of Terror” where essentially they have a Christian version of a haunted House. At Salem Baptist they frighten the youth by informing them that: “YOU HAVE DIED AND GONE STRAIGHT TO HELL!”

Meeks sends kids to ‘hell’

In one scene, a girl was lying on a gurney where a masked man in surgical scrubs pretended to perform an abortion. A toilet was sitting nearby apparently to collect the aborted fetus.

A fenced-in cell housed a few denizens of “hell,” including a pedophile trolling the Internet for a young victim, a meditating Buddhist, and two mincing young men wearing body glitter who were supposed to be homosexuals.

So according to this church that Obama had to attend and pray with Meeks on the night after he won the Democratic primary, the way to a child’s soul is by scaring them. The threats of hellfire and damnation revisited. Abortion under any circumstance is a direct ticket to hell. If you happen to have a different religion that practices self responsibility, humility and peace, you are going to hell too. And if you are gay you are definitely going to hell. But at least they will let you keep your glitter.

And the church, just what does it think about all of this? Do they consider their actions controversial? As it turns out, yes they do. They are quite aware that some of the things they do are not within the norm. But like all religious zealots they have a perfect excuse: The Bible.

Comer knows some of the parts of Salem’s “hell” will be controversial but says he and Salem’s senior pastor, the Rev. James Meeks, who could not be reached for comment, are confident they can back up their vision of hell with Scripture.

Just why is it do you suppose that Obama has strong ties to so many controversial figures? Isn’t he supposed to “represent” the new politics of hope? Isn’t he supposed to be the post partisan, post racial candidate? If so, then why is he so closely associated with so many people that are clearly partisan and vehemently racial? Do you think that this is just some odd coincidence? That somehow a random alignment of the stars caused all these people to intersect the life of Senator Obama for so many years? That he had nothing to do with cultivating these long standing enduring relationships? Because that is exactly what someone would have to believe in order not to see how Obama’s acquaintance with people like Wright and Rezko and now Meeks are not accidental associations, but rather carefully calculated relationships designed to forge alliances with people of similar mind who share the same goals.

The question is: Are they your goals too?